My S&K scope mount arrived last week and I mounted my 4-16X40 Center Fire scope on my M1917. I took it out to the range and at 100 yards, I shot 5 shot groups within 1.5" to 2" all day long from the sandbags and a bench rest. I am more then pleased with my rifle. I feel confident that if I aim at something and pull the trigger, I am going to hit it.
I did take NCSmitty's advice above and changed to the 150 Gr. rounds. Remington's ballistics showed near 3000 fps for those rounds with a 24" bbl. My bbl is only 20", so I am not getting quite as many fps, but it sure shot much straighter than it did with the 180 Gr. and scope. There also wasn't as much kick to it either.
I also further modified my stock as well. Since the wood had been modified before I ever received it. I decided to go ahead and make a change that I thought was very necessary. Let me explain.
When I stood the rifle on it's butt flatly on the floor, the bbl was angled almost 30 degrees from plumb. This made the gun lurch back and hit my shoulder with about 2 square inches of contact. This resulted in a big bruise each time I took the rifle to the range. So, I cut the stock off at an angle that made the bbl plumb when sitting on it's butt, and added a medium slip on limb saver, until I can find a permanent padded butt that will fit properly.
Now when I shoot it along with the 150 Gr. Remmington Core Lokt rounds, it's a dream. Barely feel anything. Definitely no pain whatsoever. It was after this mod, that my groups tightened up as I wasn't whincing when I pulled the trigger. Now I just have to go practice some more with it to teach myself that pulling the trigger isn't going to hurt and I think I can tighten up the groups even more. All in all though, I am very happy with my M1917 rifle!
Thank you all for your posts.
To clear some things up on the battle sights on the M1917... According to C.S.Ferris' book UNITED STATES RIFLE MODEL OF 1917 the range of the battle sight is set at 450 yards. Which makes sense. When I used the battle sight I was shooting WAY high, 3-4" high. When I flipped up the adjustable sight and set it to 200 yards, I was only 1-1.5" high. So, there you go!